1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to cargo containers for motor vehicles, and more particularly to a vehicle cargo container with a retractable cover having panels that are adapted to be stored vertically within or adjacent to the cargo container.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a truck is a motor vehicle suitable for hauling, and a pickup truck is a small truck with an open cargo area. A typical pickup truck includes an enclosed cabin for passengers and an open box-type bed called a cargo bay for hauling cargo. The cargo bay typically begins at a rear wall of the cabin, and includes two side rails and a tail gate opposite the rear wall of the cabin that can be lowered for cargo loading and unloading.
Cargo stored in the cargo bay of a pickup truck is unprotected from the weather, exposed to view, and vulnerable to vandalism and theft. Several different kinds of truck bed covers are currently available, including soft covers made from flexible materials such as canvas or plastic sheets, and hard covers including one or more rigid sections made from fiberglass or hard plastic. While soft truck bed covers protect cargo stored in a cargo bay from the weather and block the cargo from view, they are relatively easily breached and offer less security from vandalism and theft than hard truck bed covers.
A problem arises with hard truck bed covers in that they are typically heavy and bulky and require a significant amount of storage room. Sized to fit over an upper opening of the cargo bay, single-section hard truck bed covers typically cannot be stored in the cargo bay, and must be removed from the pickup truck when transporting cargo that extends above the side rails. While the sections of many multi-section hard truck bed covers may be stored in the cargo bay, the sections typically occupy a significant portion of the cargo bay, substantially limiting the amount of cargo that can be stored in the cargo bay along with the sections.
It would therefore be advantageous to have a truck bed cover with multiple, rigid sections that may be stored in the cargo bay without taking up a significant portion of the cargo bay. Such a truck bed cover would offer a relatively high degree of security from vandalism and theft when covering the truck bed (i.e., deployed), yet would not substantially limit the amount of cargo that can be stored in the cargo bay along with the sections when stowed.